Next Recruit in Lord Iblis Secret Service
by Batsojopo
Summary: Helo is surprised when an old friend he thought lost manages to turn up in the hands of the Gou'ald system Lord Iblis.  A sequel to Every Stray Child and co-written with Rap541.
1. Prologue

**_Next Recruit in Lord Iblis Secret Service_**

Part: Prologue  
>Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on<br>paring: ensemble cast  
>Summary: Helo is surprised when an old friend he thought lost manages to turn up in the hands of the Gou'ald system Lord Iblis. This is a sequel to Every Stray Child, and co-written with Rap541.<p>

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. Stargate and its characters are creations of MGM. We make no money off this.

**_Prologue_**

Karl Agathon sat at one of the tables in the cafeteria and looked at the information in front of him. It was lunch, but eating wasn't on his mind at all. The tray he had retrieved was off to the side, and his lunch was cooling slowly, but he ignored it. Several days ago the Tok'ra had received some odd information concerning one of the more backwards planets. Since Karl has been on Earth he found out that the people here, or the Tau'ri were more technologically advanced than most of the planets that were inhabited. It seemed strange especially since the Colonies were considerably more advanced than anything that Earth had.

Rumor had it that the destroyer of gods had been returned to Iblis. Since Stargate Command knew that Felix Gaeta was still on Earth, it meant that the Goa'uld had found a new victim to torture. He had been surprised that Colonel O'Neill had given the file instead of Gaeta, but then had reconsidered it. They would probably need to rescue whoever the Goa'uld had, if only to stop the Goa'uld from using their victim to execute any Tok'ra they came across. That meant a mission, and Felix wasn't cleared for off world missions, and wasn't likely to be. It hadn't surprised Helo when he'd found out. Felix had never been the sort to run to a fight, but after ten years of torture by the Goa'uld, Felix had struggled and continued to struggle with post traumatic stress and anxiety. The man had bounced back well, but as a soldier, Helo wasn't certain he'd want the added risk on a mission. And considering who Iblis had captured, it was probably for the best.

The former Colonial pilot sighed as he closed his eyes. When he opened them he saw the same thing. The file from O'Neill, and something he never expected to see was staring back at him. Kara Thrace. What wasn't so good was the rumors that were swirling around her and a certain gou'ald named Iblis.

"Hey, Helo? What'cha lookin' at? That file I gave you?"

He looked up at the newcomer. Jack O'Neill was standing in front of him with his own lunch tray. The American Air Force pilot led the premier team that went through the Stargate, but as of late, he was spending more and more time within the underground base itself.

"Yes, looking over the information the Tok'ra graciously decided to give us," Karl answered with no small amount of irritation. During the time he was with SGC he quickly came to realize how few and far between the information from the Tok'ra was. So, no matter how small the information that was reluctantly handed over they went through it very thoroughly. "That file you gave me, there's something concerning…One of the captives…"

"Oh?" Jack sat down and picked up his fork.

Karl nodded absently. "Shortly before…we arrived…one of our pilots disappeared. We were never sure what happened to her…" his voice faded. He shook his head and picked up the grainy black and white image that one of the Tok'ra operatives had managed to take and handed it over. Her hair was much longer and dark circles were under her eyes from exhaustion, but she was essentially the same from the pictures as he remembered. She looked younger than she should have but he had a suspicion about that.

"Damn it" Jack muttered just loud enough for Karl to hear.

"What do you mean?"

Jack shook his head, "Never mind." He took another sip of his drink and continued, "What else do you know about…"

"Who? Kara?"

"Is that her name?" Jack reached for the image once more.

"Yes. I'm not sure how well she's doing. She's a hell of a pilot, but was never that stable to begin with."

Jack's face winced in sympathy. Karl could see what Jack was thinking. If Kara had been held captive for three years, and not stable to begin with, she'd be in worse shape. It was a wonder she was still alive to begin with.

Iblis, Karl thought while reaching for the photograph once more. Kara didn't have the look of one controlled by a gou'ald, it was the look of someone tortured. "Gods," he muttered.

"What?"

Karl looked up only to find Jack looking at him hard. "I think Kara might have P blood…" She'd donated a pint to Gaeta after the shooting, and Gaeta did have a rare type, even in the colonies. "She's my age. But she looks like she did when we first met…."

"Crap," Jack muttered. "That would explain the talk that the destroyer of gods returning. Which means we have to do something."

TBC…


	2. Chapter 1

**_Next Recruit in Lord Iblis Secret Service_**

Part: 1  
>Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on<br>paring: ensemble cast  
>Summary: Helo is surprised when an old friend he thought lost manages to turn up in the hands of the Gou'ald system Lord Iblis. This is a sequel to Every Stray Child, and co-written with Rap541.<p>

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. Stargate and its characters are creations of MGM. We make no money off this.

**_Chapter One_**

"Open the Iris," Hammond commanded from the observation area. Helo's report showed that the team had been successful in their retrieval. He glanced over to the side to Felix Gaeta. The younger man was hiding his uneasiness well enough, but he could tell he was worried about what they were going to find.

"It'll be fine, son," he said with compassion as he placed a hand on Felix's shoulder.

Gaeta shrugged, his expression worried. "She was always a loose cannon, but brilliant pilot. Admiral Adama treated her as the daughter he never had."

Before Felix could continue, the klaxon sounded, warning that someone, or something, was coming through the gate. Hammond let a smile cross his face while watching Felix's reaction. He could easily tell the former Colonial was still fascinated in the ring and the wormhole it created. "We might never figure out just how it works, you know."

Felix's head whipped around to look at him. "What?"

"The Stargate," Hammond indicated the room below them. It was now filled with marines and several medical officers, including Janet Frazier. "We might never figure it out even with your help."

"I don't think I'm even close, not compared to others," Felix answered wistfully. He stiffened up suddenly, which made Hammond turn his attention back to the room below. The team was now returning with one disheveled barefoot woman in tow. She tumbled down the ramp and onto the floor. In an instant Janet was there and starting the preliminary checkout. Seconds later the newcomer started fighting the soldiers that were holding her down, but she was not strong enough. Helo came up and knelt down beside her and said something that seemed to calm her down enough to get her onto a stretcher, and rushed out of the gate room and into medical.

"It's done," Felix muttered as he nervously gathered his paperwork together.

"Felix?" The general's question made the younger man stop for a moment and turn back around.

"Yes, sir?"

"I'm not forcing you to go and talk to her right now, only when you're ready." Hammond suspected it hadn't been easy for the man to face the memories of his previous life.

"Thank you…sir."

* * *

><p>Karl stood in the locker room slowly taking off his gear. Kara's attitude was exactly what he expected when they arrived back on base. To be honest she had been through Hades the last three years. Her near uncontrollable rage alone made him realize that it would not be good for the former pilot to meet with Felix.<p>

He wasn't the only one in the locker room. Jack had arrived and was now in the process of removing his own gear when he asked, "When's the briefing?"

"Ten minutes," Jack gave him a look while hanging up his baseball cap. "You can talk to her once we're finished. It'll give Doc Frazier time to do what she does best."

The former Colonial officer nodded absently. He couldn't think about talking to Kara at the moment, he had to go through the debriefing first. "Hurry up or you'll be late," Jack called back over his shoulder as he was exiting the locker room.

"I know," he muttered as he hurried after the colonel. Hammond was an easier commander to follow than Adama in certain things, but not everything.

"I want to know what you found," Hammond said as soon as the last person had found their seat around the table.

"It was radically different from the last time, Sir," Jack said. "The room Thrace was in was like a prison cell compared to what Gaeta had."

Jack's comments surprised Karl. Felix never mentioned what his quarters were like, and the ones that rescued him never talked about it either. He shook his head. The thought of Kara living like a prisoner for the last three years was not good. "Where's Gaeta?" he asked suddenly. He figured it would have been good for him to be here.

"He's on base, son. I'm not ordering him to see Thrace immediately."

"I understand," Karl answered after a moment. Felix never had a decent working relationship with Kara. If she saw him now, she would have immediately peg him as a Cylon, which was the same thing he did. It was understandable. Felix had not changed in literally 13 years. He only now looked to be in his early 30s. And Kara was in too much shock to connect the dots between that and her own appearance. He realized suddenly that part of her fearful reaction to him during the rescue was probably because she assumed that he would think *she* was a Cylon.

"Do we know how many times Iblis used her for …" even Hammond couldn't quite state what she had been used for.

"No," Sam answered for the first time. "She wouldn't mention how many there were. We'll need to try harder for information once she's calmer…"

As soon as the debriefing was finished, Karl headed towards sickbay. He really wanted to see how Kara was holding up after the rescue. It still shocked him to see just how much she had changed in three years. She showed no signs of aging at all, in fact she looked much as she had when they first met and that was twenty years ago. The only thing that had changed was how long her hair had grown. The year on New Caprica showed him just how fast her hair could grow, and now it was a whole lot longer. It was like Iblis had some sick fascination with women that had long hair. Kara might have been the only destroyer of gods in Iblis's stronghold, but she hadn't been the only captive woman.

"Hello, Helo," she said in a sarcastic, angry tone.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"How do you think I'm doing!" she snarled at him. "I've been that thing's plaything for who knows how long." She started to get up but stopped, looking wary and suspicious.

Sounds behind him let him know that there were guards stationed nearby. "Starbuck," he said carefully. "They are not here to do anything to you but help you heal." What shocked him was the once brutally tough pilot shrunk back in fear at his tone. "I'm sorry," he said in a much softer voice. "You may not believe this, but the people here do understand what you've been put through."

"Yeah, right," she muttered with tears in her eyes as she looked away.

"Captain," Janet came up to him and pulled him away. "I think it would be best that you leave."

Karl knew an order when he heard it. "Yes, ma'am," he answered and turned around to leave sickbay. What surprised him was seeing Felix just outside the door looking like he wasn't sure of whether or not to go in to talk to her. "Not yet. She's not doing well right now," he told his old friend and continued down the corridor.

* * *

><p>Karl had to admit that a good night sleep and a filling breakfast could and did wonders for anyone. Kara's eyes still had that haunted look, but she seemed more at ease with her surroundings. He looked up to one of the cameras and winked. Felix was going to watch the entire debriefing, however long or short it was going to be from somewhere else on base.<p>

The former Colonial pilot was wearing duty fatigues and sneakers. Just seeing her fully rested made Karl feel better about putting her through the debriefing. She followed Jack into the conference room. They all felt that it would be much better there, than the interrogation room. Kara may have looked healthy, but he knew that she was anything but stable.

"So, what am I doing here?" the Colonial asked as she plopped down in the chair. "You planning to use me? Like Iblis did?"

Jack raised an eyebrow at her apparent insubordination, but said nothing.

As Sam walked into the room Kara's eyes narrowed. "I know why you're looking at me," the astrophysicist said as she sat down.

"Oh really?"

"Yes. For a short time I carried a Tok'ra. Once you've had one inside you, it's something you can sense in others. I can tell you've had a Goa'uld inside you even if I didn't know where we'd found you." Kara look of revulsion wasn't that much of a surprise to the group.

"Kara, you're safe here," Karl said emphatically as he placed a hand on her arm.

"Don't touch me, Helo," she pushed his hand off her shoulder.

"Kara, the one that held you captive? We've got a little war going on with his kind," Jack commented as he indicated both Sam and Karl.

"Yeah, and I'm the President," she muttered. She crossed her arms, scowling belligerently.

"Just great," Jack muttered under his breath. Gaeta had told them in no uncertain terms to be gentle with her, citing his own experience. It hadn't occurred to Jack at the time that Gaeta, upon being rescued, had been terrified about what Stargate Command was going to do with him but it made sense. The problem was that Kara Thrace was anything but gentle. "Okay," he continued suddenly as he stood up and leaned over the conference table in her direction. At the sudden actions, she cringed back, and scowled more. "You want to know what's really going on? That slime bag Iblis used you as his personal executioner." His voice softened as he sat back down, "And we're going to make sure that it doesn't happen again. There is no need to lash out at everything and everyone. We want to help you, but you have to try to remain calm and be cooperative."

"There's something else," Karl said quietly. When she didn't say anything he continued, "The destroyed world with that ring was not Earth."

"Of course not, it's fake," she snarled. "Let me guess, this is Earth."

"Kara, it's not fake," Jack said with compassion in his voice. "You're on Earth. Well, underground at the moment, but that's beside the point."

"But … it was destroyed." Thrace, Jack recalled from Karl's briefing, had been like most of the people in the colonial fleet, shattered that their quest had led to nothing but a burnt out rusk of a planet with a ring they considered to be deadly.

"That world was, but it was not Earth." Karl said carefully.

"I don't believe this is Earth," Kara stubbornly held her ground while folding her arms. More shock than anger, Jack thought. She was handling the news better than Gaeta had.

Karl closed his eyes for a moment, considered his next actions. He hoped he knew what he was doing. "General," he said as he indicated the screen off to the side.

"What's going on?" Kara asked nervously as Jack picked up a small remote.

"I want to show you something. Something that I hope will make you realize that we are all telling the truth," Jack's voice was full of compassion as he pointed it at the screen.

"Kara, do you remember that transmission we intercepted? The one with the two men in EVA suits and we couldn't figure out what they were doing?" Karl said. It had been one of the few things that had kept the fleet going, a mysterious transmission they'd received almost a year after finding the false Earth. When he'd found out what it really was, he'd been amazed as the coincidence.

The video was almost an hour in length, but the ending was always the same. It was the same thing she had seen long before Iblis had captured her. It was the image of an extremely primitive spaceship landing on a desolate planet. Just from the look on her face, they knew she had seen the images before. "It's real?" she asked in a small voice.

"Yes," Jack answered with a smile. "I would call the two astronauts here, but … they prefer their privacy." Noting her effort not to shake, Jack looked at Sam and indicated the door.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 2

**_Next Recruit in Lord Iblis Secret Service_**

Part: Two  
>Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on<br>paring: ensemble cast  
>Summary: Helo is surprised when an old friend he thought lost manages to turn up in the hands of the Gou'ald system Lord Iblis. This is a sequel to Every Stray Child, and co-written with Rap541.<p>

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. Stargate and its characters are creations of MGM. We make no money off this.

**_Chapter Two  
><em>**

They were well supplied, she thought as the black woman with the musical drawling accent set down a heaping tray of food. In the fleet, the food she was looking at would have been a feast for a large family, if there was such a thing left. It was noodles in a meaty tomato sauce with hunks of ground meat shaped in little balls. "This looks a little like Delphi style noodles," she said calmly as she shook some of the grated cheese onto the hot noodles.

"They call it spaghetti," Helo said. He sipped a cup of hot coffee. "It won't taste the same, it's more savory and not as sweet. Sharon and… someone else I know can just about make it taste like real Delphi noodles but the kids like spaghetti more."

"Tastes good," she said. She could barely remember what Delphi noodles tasted like. Savory, and the sauce wasn't as heavy, and the meat was usually ground lamb, not beef, but the spaghetti was tasty, and there was bread, and a salad loaded with the fresh vegetables that told her that Helo probably wasn't lying about her being planet side. The doors were a clue as well, and Helo had never been much of a liar. She could count on her hands the people in her life she had trusted, and Helo was one. He and Sharon had even taken the child she had been forced to bear. He'd shown her pictures of the girl, a leggy blonde seven year old in what looked like a school photo. It was hard to look at, a little carbon copy of herself, with Sam's eyes and if she was any judge, Sam's height as well.

Helo had shown her other pictures, of his kids and Sharon. Pictures where the kids looked happy and well fed and if nothing else, she knew she had made the right call for a change. Helo was a good dad, and Sharon was a good mom. She hadn't brought a child into the world and repeated her own parents mistakes.

"So this is Earth. Real Earth." She looked at him, and took a long drink from the glass of milk. It and the cookies were the only thing left on the tray, and she resisted only for a moment. Whoever they were, they had good food and she wasn't afraid to take advantage of it while it lasted. Judging by the well fed looks of the others in the cafeteria, including Helo, they weren't trying to trick her over rations. They also weren't going crazy with security although she wasn't fool enough to act on it. Not yet. If they were really underground, then she needed to know more about the lay out and about the guards and their schedules. They seemed soft at first glance but that meant nothing. That Helo trusted them helped. She wanted to believe Helo, she really did. But he had no idea what the time with Iblis had been like. If the Earth people were at war with the Goa'uld, and they understood what happened when a Goa'uld entered *her* body then she doubted they would be able to resist using her as a weapon. If I could get to the surface, she thought as she nibbled a cookie, I could get away. "What's going to happen to me?"

She was curious what lies Helo had been told. He wasn't in charge, after all. O'Neill was. O'Neill didn't seem to like her and that meant while Helo might be on her side, he wasn't in charge. And Helo had a lot of kids, kids he would protect first. She didn't blame him for that, but she had to consider it in any escape plan.

Helo looked at her. "You're going to get some recovery time. You'll actually be in a quarantine for a few months. The people here are good people. I know that's hard to accept, but it's true. If you want a job here in Stargate Command, well, the Earth people need pilots like you desperately. But most of them don't even know this war is being fought, the Stargate is a secret technology, and the planet is really primitive compared to Caprica. It's only the people here who really know. But. it is good here." He hesitated. "Maybe you should consider this a second chance. We know what the sarcophagus did to you, Kara. For Gods sakes, we're the same age and I'm gray like an old man and you look twenty seven. You can have a life here."

A life. She wasn't even sure what that meant anymore. "How long was I there? With Iblis?" Despite everything, she could barely say his name.

"You disappeared about two years before Sharon and I ran. We've been here on Earth for almost a year. So about three years." Again he hesitated. "There's something else. we have someone here from the colonies. Someone that Iblis captured before you."

"The son of a bitch," Kara said in a scoffing tone. At Helo's look of surprise, she added, "That's what Iblis called him, the son of a bitch that escaped. He was always going on about him." The bastard had made things ten times more difficult. Because of the escapee, who had tested so many ways to escape without managing it, she had it that much worse. Iblis had raged on the topic many times.

"Yeah well, we've got him. It was Jack O'Neill's team that rescued him and you need to know that." Helo rose to his feet. "So I was going to take you to see him once you were done eating."

A test of sorts. She didn't care. Although she wouldn't hesitate to give the son of a bitch a piece of her mind.

* * *

><p>Gaeta waited in the conference room. He was alone, although he knew guards would be watching and waiting to step in. Kara was a mess, a giant violent mess, and he knew that no one really believed him on that point. Helo and Sharon to a lesser extent, had been friends with Kara and that had colored their opinion, and everyone else was seeing a tortured woman who was almost waif-like.<p>

Jack was taking him seriously, which he appreciated. He knew he wasn't an impartial judge of Kara Thrace, there was bad blood between them, but he knew she had been through hell. Iblis wasn't a kind master and while he had the personality to endure, Kara was the sort that never understood that Iblis *wanted* his prisoners to throw themselves against the bars. Iblis enjoyed it, enjoyed punishing prisoners who fought. He had thrown himself against the bars, both figuratively and literally for years before he had wised up and realized that what made Iblis complacent was a prisoner who appeared broken. Kara wasn't likely to have the patience or the temper to realize that, and she had hardly been stable the last time he had seen her. Everything he had seen on the videos told him that she was going to react badly on seeing him.

That was fine. He might look the same as he had but he was a forty-three year old man trapped in the body of a twenty-nine year old. Janet had suspected with him and confirmed it with Kara, that humans with blood type P were rejuvenated to their peak age of health. Kara was in the same position except that he knew intimately what she was feeling. Well, but sick, and Iblis had always been a bastard about food. There had never been enough food to really feel full and by the time his muscles and nerves had learned to work right, another Goa'uld or Tok'ra would have been brought to be killed and the torture would start all over again. He knew, from his own post captivity behaviors, that he had been paranoid and fearful, and almost obsessed with his own safety. He still had nightmares, and if he didn't need a therapy dog hugged up against him and a daily visit to his psychiatrist, it was because he had been very lucky. But, and the sheer amount of time that had passed had shown him that he was right, he was inherently a stable person while Kara Thrace had proven over and over that she was a loose cannon at best. For a moment, he looked up at the security camera before glancing back over to the door. He was tired of standing, so he sat down at the medium size table. Felix knew what her reaction would be if she saw him immediately, so he decided to have his back facing the door.

"So, Helo, who's the son of a bitch?" she asked flippantly as she stepped into the room.

For a moment, Felix could feel his heart pounding at her voice. He turned around slowly and answered, "I am. Hello Kara."

The look on the former pilot's face went from surprise to fury. In seconds, she launched herself towards the one she felt was responsible for her captivity. With regret, Felix rose to his feet and dumped her on the deck. "I could kill you if I wanted to," he said softly with a hand close to her neck. "But I'm not, Kara. You think I'm stupid? I know what you dealt with for the past three years. I was held captive by Iblis for 10 frakkin' years."

She writhed under his hands. He mentally thanked Janet for talking him into taking the classes in krav maga. Janet had intended it as more of a confidence boost but knowing how to arm bar and pin someone face down to the floor was coming in handy. "Will you listen to me?"

"You made it ten times worse, you bastard!" Kara snarled. "I had those things inside me, crawling around me, controlling me and then that box." She twisted and he almost lost his grip.

"They'd put you in the box, and you'd be screaming because everything hurt so much and once the box was closed it just got worse because you could feel your bones knitting and you couldn't even move? And maybe if you were lucky, there's be enough time between executions that you could figure out how to walk and feed yourself without help. And when you did try to escape, Iblis would spend days torturing you, then healing you, and then torturing you?" He let his voice drop lower. It would be in his reports but Helo didn't need to hear what he was about to say. "Iblis liked to put women with me. You know why. He put men with you.."

"Shut up," she hissed, but her voice hitched. That was all the confirmation he needed. He had been lucky, very lucky, that Iblis had never seriously forced the issue of breeding, but he also suspected that it was partly due to his being a man. Iblis was a pig, but not very creative. It never occurred to Iblis that there were ways to force a man to breed. It would have been different for a woman. Even a woman like Kara, who was fighting like a wildcat even thought he knew her reflexes and muscles were dulled by the rejuvenation process, wouldn't have been able to stop it. It was probably very lucky that Cottle still had a few of long term anti-pregnancy implants.

"Listen to me very carefully," he said softly. "That will never happen here. Do you understand me? Never. No one here will ever use you to kill a Goa'uld. No one will touch you unless you want. I know you never liked me, and hated me after New Caprica. but I never lied to you. The people here, the Earth people, just want to help you because they hate the Goa'uld and they hate what Iblis did. They don't want to use you like Iblis did. I know you're scared about that, because I was, and I was so terrified I could barely function." He eased up his grip just a bit. "I know we had our differences, Kara, but I never once lied to you. You know when I disappeared and that I went through one of the gates that Iblis had. You know you look twenty seven and you shouldn't, and I look the same. That's because of the sarcophagus. My leg grew back in the sarcophagus. I can show it to you. But you have to show some self control and not attack me. I am sorry Iblis captured you and I am especially sorry that he made things so much worse for you. But I am not Iblis, and the people here didn't hurt you. If I let go of you, are you going to be calm?"

He could feel her tense. "You wouldn't believe me if I said yes," Kara snapped.

"Yes I would." He let go of her and stepped back. She jumped to her feet and then swayed. He put out a hand to steady her and she leapt back, almost falling.

"Don't touch me!" she ground out as she backed away. Her movement stopped when she bumped into the conference table. Reaching a hand behind her, she moved around the table until she had the large piece of furniture between them. Movement from the door distracted the former colonial pilot for a second. She knew Helo was out there, but there was someone else there, someone else that at least had one of those things inside him or her.

"And then there were the nightmares. It's been over three years, and I still haven't gotten a full night's sleep." Felix kept his tone calm. He knew it was Sam Carter outside the door, but Kara wasn't likely to know that the Air Force colonel she'd already met was the only person in Stargate Command that would set off the permanent goa'uld alarm they both had.

"Kara," Sam said gently as she stepped into the room. "You need help. We have psychiatrists and counselors…"

"And be thrown in with all the crazies?" The blonde woman shook her head viciously. "I'm not going through with that."

"Listen to me," Sam's voice had a command edge to it. If the Colonial wasn't going to listen to reason, then maybe she'll listen to an order. "If Felix needed help, and he did, then we know that you need it, maybe even more so."

"Please, just listen," Helo said with almost a pleading tone to his voice. "We all know you've had an extremely hard time." He waived his arm towards the others in the room. "It won't be forever. They have a really good hospital for people who have had… traumatizing things happen. It'll be good for you to be able to take a break and calm down. And we'll be with you every step of the way. Right Felix?"

Felix nodded. He moved with exaggerated movements towards the conference room table and sat back down. Kara had, in his opinion, had a harder time that he had. She wasn't behaving worse than he had but she was definitely more violent. If they didn't talk her into accepting help at the psychiatric facility, the next option was forcing her and that would be much worse. "I warn you, there will be times where it will be extremely difficult, and seem like nothing is working. There is one thing you need to remember: it may not look like it, but it is working. I wasn't able to function until I got some help."

"Yeah, frakkin' right," she muttered darkly.

"Kara," Felix sighed. He hated having to bring this up, but he also knew she still was fighting them. "I know what you're thinking. And yes, I was in the hospital for a short time." He winced at the memory of the black eye he gave Janet. At his admission, the look in Kara's eyes changed slightly. At that moment, he realized that if that's what it took to get to the former Colonial pilot, then he'd gladly go through everything again. That he never needed to be hospitalized was because of Janet's help, not because he'd been stronger.

"Yeah, right," she muttered again.

"Kara… I had been here for two months when I finally lashed out. I guarantee you, if you bury everything it will only bite your ass in the end. I couldn't even stand being outside for even five minutes before I would start panicking." He ignored Karl's surprised look and continued, "You're not in the Colonial society anymore. Being in a hospital or talking about having problems doesn't incur any shame. People here are encouraged to talk about it."

"And if I do this I'll be cursed and not get any type of job," she shot back. "No one wants crazy people around." It was a far point, Felix thought. People in the Twelve Colonies stigmatized mental illness. He had been frightened of the same thing.

"That's where you're wrong," Sam answered as she took another step into the room. "Our laws specifically state that someone cannot be refused a job if that person is the most qualified. The only thing that would limit a person's qualifications is if they had problems with the law. Even then, employers have to give everyone equal opportunity." She hesitated before continuing, "And it is never put on a person's record."

"Kara," Felix kept his hands well within sight and then placed them on the table, "I can be with you every step of the wa – "

"No. If I do this, I do not want you holding it over me. Like you held New Caprica over me."

"I didn't… If that's what you want." Don't, he told himself, don't get on that topic. She needed help more than he needed to dredge an old resentment.

TBC…


	4. Chapter 3

**_Next Recruit in Lord Iblis Secret Service_**

Part: Three  
>Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on<br>paring: ensemble cast  
>Summary: Helo is surprised when an old friend he thought lost manages to turn up in the hands of the Gou'ald system Lord Iblis. This is a sequel to Every Stray Child, and co-written with Rap541.<p>

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. Stargate and its characters are creations of MGM. We make no money off this.

**_Chapter Three  
><em>**

Earth cars were basically piles of crap. They were all underpowered and the engines ran off dirty liquid fuel. Drivable but only just. She grimaced as she had to slow down on a curve. She wasn't looking forward to the afternoon's chore but she also knew how poorly it would reflect on her if she didn't show up.

Kara Thrace grimaced again as the Saturn Vue slid on the icy road. Helo and Gaeta lived in the mountainous woods and the primitive snow plows didn't do a great job. She had been invited to the Stargate Command Superbowl party and since she was no longer living in the crazy house, or the crazy halfway house, she knew it was a test of sorts. The party was apparently at Felix Gaeta's home by tradition and local preference. Apparently Felix had become quite the host. It didn't shock her. The bastard always had a way of landing on his feet.

She took a deep breath and let it out. Intellectually, she understood that she was directing anger at Felix because he had escaped from Iblis's prison and that had directly led to her capture and torture. And because he had been the stand in for Leoben when she had lost it after New Caprica. The Earthers were big fans of talking and talking and talking about traumatic events. She wasn't taken with it, but she had to admit, the nightmares had eased off. She didn't flinch at loud noises. She could walk around in one of the American shopping malls and not react badly to the crowds. It had been a long six months, only the last few weeks had felt normal. She had her own place, admittedly a temporary apartment, and she had her own car and soon there would be flying in the Earth fighters. And she had a party to attend and she suspected it was a test.

She passed the Agathon home, a new home from what she gathered. They had recently moved, to a freshly built home to house the growing family. Then she pulled into the driveway that lead to Felix Gaeta's home. It was funny, she thought as she pulled up to the large abode. Gaeta had always been clever and he had designed his home in the style of Caprican mountain homes. Similar enough to what the Earthers called chalets to pass but she could see the styling and she hated having to admit that the place reminded her of home. Of the sort of mountain farms that she went to on school trips. For just a moment, she could imagine being on Caprica.

Then she shook it off and got out of the car. It was snowing, real snow, not radioactive crap, and for an instant she reveled in the crisp air and the cold frost her breath made. I wish Sam was here, she thought suddenly. Or Lee. She shook that off too. Sam was dead, and there was next to no chance Lee Adama would ever be found. This was her life. On Earth. And she had to make nice with Gaeta for a few hours.

She rang the doorbell and in an instant, the door swung open, so hard she almost jumped. A little boy, with red curly hair and fair skin, but otherwise a miniature version of Felix. Then a second boy joined him, identical except that the clothes he was wearing were different. "Hello!" the first shouted. "Are you here for the party?"

"Can I take your coat?" the second shouted. They both looked five or six years old, well grown and healthy. Suddenly a third child ran into the hallway, almost half a head taller, followed by a huge, wolfish looking cinnamon and white dog.

"Guys, your dad said the bao is ready! Come on!" Whatever bow was, it was clearly a sought after treat. All three boys ran down the long hallway, and she saw two smaller children follow them, followed by a leggy blond girl and two more girls with the long dark hair that reminded her of Sharon Agathon. Rose and Martha, Kara realized. Sharon's little girls, the ones that had just been walking and talking when she had been separated from the fleet. And the blonde girl…

She shook it off. If there had been one decision in her life that she had never doubted, it was handing the squalling baby she'd borne to Helo and Sharon. She would have been a frakking awful mother and Sharon had been cooing over the baby as soon she had been born. The shrink thought she had unresolved issues about it. Maybe that was true, she didn't know, but the kid looked fine. Tall for seven or eight. Being tall was good. It meant she was Sam's daughter. It meant that the kid might not be like her. A good thing.

She looked to her right, and was surprised to see something she hadn't seen in years. A shrine, a family shrine, built into the hallway entrance for people to see when they first entered the home. Very Caprican in design, but it surprised her. Felix had never struck her as traditional, and yet there he was with a traditional family altar, with pictures of his children and wife… She put her hand in the bowl of salt and sprinkled it to the deities. Hephaestus, Athena, and Ares, surprising only in that Felix had personal gods at all, and then to the small t figure. His wife's god or goddess, she had been given lessons but wasn't entirely certain of how the Earth gods worked.

"I'm sorry," said a new, adult figure. Kara looked up. It was Janet, Felix's wife. She looked radiant, her small figured clearly rounded by pregnancy, her red hair up in what the Earthers called a French braid. "The boys weren't rude, were they? We're working on their door manners." Her face brightened. "I hope you're hungry, Kara. Felix is making his specialty, Delphi noodles." The red haired woman smiled pleasantly. "He swears it's what everyone used to eat at sporting events back home."

"Sounds good," Kara said, although her skin seemed alive with gooseflesh. That was the smell, a sweet, savory, onion flavor that seemed to override her senses and remind her of home. There were other scents as well, fresh bread and the bitter yet delicious garlic that was new. At least the bastard can cook, she thought as she followed Janet down the hallway.

It led into an expansive kitchen and family room. One wall was devoted to large, sturdy looking windows braced with logs and timber supports. There were glass doors leading to a large deck, and a barbeque grill had been carefully swept free of snow. Grilled meat was a cultural thing for the Americans. They adored it. They adored sugar too, typically insisting on some sort of sweet at every meal. Their kitchens and cafeterias all seemed to reek of sugar. It had been wonderful, at first, to eat food that had some taste to it, any taste, but once the initial fun was gone, it all started tasting the same. Sweet as hell. Of course, some of that was because it was a hospital. Not bad for a crazy house, and she had become aware that the hospital had been an excellent facility even for Earth standards. But the sugar got on her nerves. The occasional meal at Karl and Sharon's house was relaxing in part because they tended to cook if not Caprican styled food, it was food that was allowed to taste like what it was… not like a bag of sugar.

The horde of children was hopping about the large marble topped kitchen island as Gaeta set down a group of odd little dishes. Some sort of steamed treat, judging by the water droplets on the dishes and the billowing cloud over the stove. Over one of the stoves, she corrected herself. Felix had a giant kitchen. He was smiling, looking just a little older than when the Cylons had attacked. A side effect of the sarcophagus, she knew. She had started to let some of her rage go when she realized he wasn't lying about his leg being regrown in the sarcophagus. If a broken bone took hours of agony to be healed… It had to have hurt. And she knew it hurt. She should look forty, when she had been captured, she had been thirty seven and she had looked it. Her reflexes had been going, she should have retired from Vipers and hadn't because they just didn't have anyone else, and now she felt twenty five and looked twenty five. And would look and feel twenty five for a few years before the clock started ticking again if Felix was any sign. He was dishing out little white bread like puffs from the steaming trays.

"There's enough for everyone," he said in a chiding tone to the little children. "And lunch is soon so everyone gets one, ok?" He looked up and smiled at Janet and then at her. "Kara, I'm glad you made it here, despite the snow. Are you hungry? Lunch is in about an hour, and I've got the sauce for the noodles simmering. It's not quite exact, but I think you'll like it. In the mean time, would you like some bao?" He held out one of the little white puffs.

"Sure," she said, taking a seat at the island. The bread like white puff ball had that sugary sent but also a meaty aroma, and when she bit into it, she understood why all the kids wanted some. The bread was lightly sweetened, and there was meat inside, with a sweet, yet savory sauce. What the Earthers called barbeque sauce, but not quite so doused in sugar as the barbequed foods she had sampled. "It's good," she admitted.

"It's yum!" one of the children said, the dark haired little boy that had the dog by his side. He handed the treat to a toddler, who had similar features. "Here Georgie, you try it!"

There were more little bread pockets handed out and soon she was alone at the island, with Felix fussing over pots and pans while Karl Agathon sidled up to the marble topped counter. "Got any more, Felix?" he asked. In a second, Sharon was at his side, looking as she always did. Another one that didn't age, although for different reasons.

"I'm glad you came, Kara," Sharon said warmly.

"You look good," Karl added. She nodded to him, and wondered suddenly if it bothered him. She was forty and looked twenty five, and Felix Gaeta was in the same boat, and Sharon was a Cylon who might be aging but also might not be aging all that much in comparison to her husband, who looked his age. He looked at her carefully. "I saw your name on the flight schedule, didn't I?"

"Yes. I was cleared this week." Which was nice. The Americans had some quick little fighters. Based on Goa'uld tech for the most part, but she knew Karl was working on a sleeker version of the colonial Raptor for the Air Force. Sharon was involved, and she still wasn't entirely certain what Gaeta did with SG Command. Scientific research of some sort, she wasn't sure what. He'd done the initial designs for the Stargate craft, and she had the impression that he was involved in researching how to make Goa'uld and Ancient technology work for humans.

"Well, good," Helo said, grinning. "I need someone to keep all the damn kids in check. Gods, Kara, all they do is whine about who went the fastest or who got the most kills in the exercise. Were we ever like that?"

"Every day and we were probably worse," Kara said after a moment. She sensed that Helo was uncomfortable about the age issue. She wondered suddenly if he had the typical reaction to the sarcophagus, if he felt good and invigorated afterward.

"They have so many rules," Sharon said, her tone scoffing. "It drives me crazy. All the pilots and RTOs have college degrees in engineering. They're smart, but it's pretty rare to find someone with combat experience. They're soft. Try not to beat anyone up when you meet them, Starbuck." She grinned, and for an instant Kara remembered the fun they used to have in the ready room. Then one of the kids started to get loud and Sharon and Helo were off in an instant to settle the argument, leaving her with Felix.

"So, where are you living, Kara?" Felix asked as he stirred one of the pots.

Making conversation, Kara decided. "Some apartment complex in Colorado City. It's small but I can afford it." Her wages weren't unreasonable. Her Saturn Vue, while hardly a luxury car, was fully paid for.

"Janet and I have a proposition for you. You don't have to agree to it, of course." He said it carefully. "Did you notice the house being built just down the road?"

She nodded, suddenly wary. "Not as big as this place but nice." She wasn't sure where he was going.

"Janet and I own it. Janet's father was planning to move here. We already built a house for him, it's a log cabin sort of structure, out on our property. I'm sure you noticed the access road." Gaeta said.

"I did." It almost made her smile. She hadn't suspected that Gaeta of all people was so old school. It was a quaint Caprican custom, for those who could still afford it, to have a parent living on owned property but in a separate house.

"Unfortunately," Gaeta said, sounding genuinely sad, "Patrick had a stroke. He'll make a full recovery but Janet isn't comfortable with him living in a house that's so far off the beaten path. He didn't know we had already built him a house, so he's delighted with the house we're currently building, but that leaves us with a house to rent. I wanted to offer it to you."

"I don't need charity, Gaeta. I have a job. I already have an apartment." It occurred to her, suddenly, that she was alone with Gaeta, that the children and adults had all left although she could still hear the laughing conversation.

"I'm not offering charity." Gaeta said easily. "I plan to charge you rent, and market value rent. The place is bright and open… Janet's father used to paint as a hobby so we set up with studio space, and we thought we'd offer it to you before we listed it. It's out in the woods on our land so it's pretty private and quiet but not a bad drive to work. Do you want to look at it?"

"I hope you will," a new voice said. Kara spun around but it was Janet. Janet smiled pleasantly as she walked around the kitchen island and curled around Felix. "I hate to see the place sit empty. Do you want to see it?"

It would look bad if she said no, Kara reasoned.

TBC…


	5. Chapter 4

**_Next Recruit in Lord Iblis Secret Service_**

Part: Four  
>Rating: PG, maybe be PG-13 later on<br>paring: ensemble cast  
>Summary: Helo is surprised when an old friend he thought lost manages to turn up in the hands of the Gou'ald system Lord Iblis. This is a sequel to Every Stray Child, and co-written with Rap541.<p>

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica and its characters are creations of Glen Larson and copywrited by Universal Studios. Stargate and its characters are creations of MGM. We make no money off this.

**_Chapter Four  
><em>**

It was a set up, she realized. Helo and Sharon had too quickly acquiesced to watching all the children and the food, and in mere minutes she was sitting in a four wheeled truck as Janet drove on a dirt road to the cabin.

It was beautiful. She tried not to react but it was hard. The snow and the small building looked liked a perfect little haven. She was determined to not cave immediately. "If I understand the weather here, the snow and the road might be a problem."

"Before my father took ill, we considered that," Janet said. "There's a snowmobile for emergencies. You'd be fine, but I'm not comfortable with my 70 year old father riding a snowmobile. On the other hand your SUV seems like it would handle the road fine. There's not a lot of furniture here…" Janet led her to the front door. "It's really meant for one person with occasional guests. We're building the new house a bit bigger for resale value and because Dad is going to need someone to help him now." There was a note of sadness to Janet's voice. She must have a good relationship with her father, Kara reasoned.

Janet led her into the house. The problem, Kara realized on stepping into the bright airy place, was that it was beautiful and Felix Gaeta and his wife knew exactly how much she could afford. The kitchen and living room was empty but lovely and there was a glassed off area with lots of natural light coming in from both windows and large skylights. It was perfect for a possible studio. From the outside one would never realize just how bright and airy the log cabin was.

"Do you want to see what the rest of the cabin looks like?" Janet asked from just behind her.

Kara cringed slightly, berating herself for getting completely wrapped up in just the studio area. "Yeah," she answered while turning her attention back from the studio to the rest of the cabin. The skylights gave the whole house a deceptively bright and airy feel to it. One would never know the walls were at least a foot thick from the logs.

"Don't be deceived by the windows," Janet said as she looked out one and into the edge of the forest. "They're double pane and made to handle some of the worst that storms can throw at them. The double pane also makes it difficult for both cold and heat to seep through." In other words, the cabin was well insulated, Kara finished in her mind.

Both bedrooms were a nice size, where one could fit decent sized furniture inside them and have room to spare, and the bathroom had areas of nice storage. That was the one thing she didn't like about the apartment she was in. There was never enough storage space.

What surprised her was the subbasement area. In the area below the house the heater was located. "The pipes here?" Janet was pointing to large PCB pipes coming from the wall and into the house area, "Are from the well. You have well water here, nice and fresh. And the sub pump will make sure that nothing floods during the spring.

"What's that door for?" Kara pointed to what looked like a very solid door.

"Fallout shelter." With a heave she pulled the door open. The room hidden behind the door was about half the size of the basement, but large enough to support a decent size family. Shelves lined the walls, shelves that could easily carry lots of canned goods. "This is water from the well," Janet explained as she turned on the spigot over the sink. "And we do have fresh air," she showed the boxes on the walls. Boxes that looked eerily similar to the scrubbers that would clean the air on the Galactica.

"Looks like you've got everything planned," Kara commented as she followed Janet out and back up to the ground floor.

A tense smile crossed the smaller woman's face before she said anything, "Felix still has issues he's dealing with. He's always over-prepared for the worst case scenario." Janet's expression grew pensive. "He covers it well, but he has security issues."

"The fallout shelter," Kara nodded in understanding. She had to admit, the idea of having an emergency shelter did please her. Probably for the same reasons Gaeta had built it. "Is it unusual to have something like this?"

"Most people here don't really do that anymore. About 40 years ago people were panicking over the fact that a nuclear war could break out at any moment. As long as it doesn't get too out of hand, I let him do it." Janet indicated the basement door again, "The shelter can also be used as a tornado shelter."

Kara furrowed her brows in confusion, she still wasn't quite sure what a tornado was, but the way people have talked about it, she didn't want to have to go through one.

"—what do you think?"

"Huh?" Kara realized she hadn't paid any attention to Janet once they had moved back through the cabin to the studio area. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"That's okay," Janet gave her a forgiving smile. "We wanted you to see it before we put an advertisement in the paper stating that the place was for rent."

"You don't have to tell me that to get me to make my decision," Kara said as she turned around in the studio. "I think I made it when I stepped into this room."

* * *

><p>He tasted the sauce. Delphi noodles, made traditionally, was a two day affair and his mother's recipe extended it to three. The sauce was good, he thought. Not right, but there were certain limitations with Earth produce. The portebello mushrooms were close to taragaza mushrooms but they gave the sauce a bite that his mother's sauce never had.<p>

Judging by the shouts, there was soon to be a commercial break and the crowd would run in for snacks. The noodles were more of a half time dish, at least on Earth, and he wasn't fool enough to serve it with the traditional chopsticks. At least not to the Earth born guests. Janet could manage and Daniel usually made a good effort, but there were plenty of forks.

It was fun. He liked cooking and making treats for his friends. The football game itself was a bit of a bore for him, but he had picked a team and popped in every few minutes with fresh snacks and people wandered in and out from the media room for more drinks and snacks. As military people, the people in Stargate Command tended to watch their diets, but he had learned that Thanksgiving, which had a much more stringent menu, and Superbowl Sunday, were occasions where everyone was encouraged to wallow in food. Thanksgiving was also an extravaganza in the Gaeta home, with guests all over, but there wasn't a lot of opportunity for experimenting. Americans, he had learned, wanted turkey, bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and some sort of hearty green vegetable, preferably done up in a sauce. There were variations but there wasn't much room to experiment. Superbowl Sunday in contrast was less of a traditional meal situation and more of a daylong feast. People liked certain traditional foods like hamburgers and hotdogs, and he had those ready although Jack or Karl or George Hammond would do the actual grilling. He had managed to substitute some handmade sausages and even had some salmon and swordfish for the more health conscious. After the initial thrill had worn off, Felix discovered that he'd lost his taste for meals that were heavily based on beef or pork.

The fun thing about the Superbowl party was that he could try new things. The wasabi chicken wings were clearly a hit and so were the loaded nachos. This year he had made his own salsa and kettle potato chips. The chili was a variation of last year's, and the bacon wrapped scallops had been a hit since the first year he had served them. So were the Delphi noodles, which he had also made for the first Superbowl party he had hosted. The nice thing was that with the noodles deep fried, it was just a matter of ladling the sauce and meat over the noodles in the bowls he'd already prepared. With everything bubbling and all the dips fresh and waiting, he walked to the fridge and grabbed a beer. Beer was another thing he had experimented with, and the ale he had bottled up for the party seemed to be going over well.

He heard the front door open and close and could tell from the pleasant chatter that Janet had worked her magic on Kara. They didn't *need* someone to rent the cabin but he preferred to have someone in the place. And Kara needed a place, and while she wasn't exactly a close friend, she was from the colonies and they shared a unique background. He had needed companionship after his time with the Goa'uld, but he suspected that Kara needed the exact opposite. A home that was hers, with a door that locked, with no neighbors nearby to complain or bother with, that was what Kara needed. And Janet was the one to convince her. He knew a lot of Kara's problem was an unwillingness to back down from her previous anger with him. But he was certain Kara had been convinced. The next step was to convince her to go a bit further and he was pretty certain he could convince her.

"I need to check on the kids," Janet said, giving him a knowing look. "Why don't you two get this hashed out before the game starts?" And in seconds he was alone with Kara in his kitchen.

She took a seat at the large island. "I'm not dumb enough to think this wasn't prearranged, Gaeta." She eyed him for a moment. "So is there any ambrosia?"

"As a matter of fact…" He moved to the liquor cabinet and in seconds had two glasses of scotch poured. "They call it scotch whiskey here but they make it the same way." Janet didn't care for it, and he had come to understand that the way people drank in the colonies was considered excessive by Earth standards. On the other hand, he'd been drinking ambrosia since he was fifteen, and the Tau'ri knew how to make a smooth drink. He set the generous drink in front of Kara, hoping he wasn't making a mistake. "The Tau'ri like ice in it. They call it 'on the rocks'."

She took the glass and sipped it. A surprise, she had always been a gulper when it came to ambrosia but then he had gotten into the habit of downing the rotgut of the fleet as fast as possible himself. Kara nodded after a moment. "I'm not complaining. This is smooth… good stuff." She hesitated for just a moment. "Your rental property is good. I'd like to rent it but I doubt I can afford it with what I make as an Air Force captain."

Felix almost sighed and stopped himself. If she did the math, and he was certain she hadn't, market value rent was just within her means. At the same time, he had to respect where she was coming from. He had chafed at the idea of accepting help from others and he could understand what she was thinking. "Well," he said carefully as he sipped his own drink, "I wanted to talk to you about that as well. Have you wondered why Janet and I have such a… huge place? I mean, I'm just a major in the Air Force and Janet is a colonel. The military isn't a place to get rich." Something that was true in the Twelve Colonies and Earth both.

She swirled her drink and then took another sip. "Janet is a doctor, and a colonel, and I assumed that you married well." After a moment she laughed. "Frak, Gaeta, I'm still internalizing the idea that you're married. To a woman. I just assumed she was wealthy."

Felix smiled. "That's fair, I have to admit, but it's not true. Janet's family is not without means but she isn't independently wealthy." He gestured expansively. "The truth is that I have a very good memory and the Earth people desperately need our technology and knowledge. Have you been given a college degree with your cover identity?" He knew she had, but he wasn't sure what she'd been given.

Kara sniffed. "I have something called a bachelor's degree of science in aerospace engineering from Emory Riddle University."

A good choice considering they couldn't pass her off as an Air Force Academy grad. "I have a bachelor's of science in physics and a doctorate in computer science from MIT. I also have a doctorate in classical history from Oxford."

Her eyes narrowed. "So it's Dr. Gaeta now?" After a moment she smirked. "That'd piss off Baltar."

He smiled, because it would indeed piss off one Dr. Gaius Baltar, especially since the degrees were acquired by the U.S. Air Force as part of his cover. "It would, yes. But I was given doctoral degrees because I can explain how our technology works and I remember enough of even the obscure things to help jumpstart Earth's technology. In the short term, that means I got a lot of lucrative patents for things I remember but didn't actually create. So when the money started rolling in, I decided to create a corporation and if anyone from the colonies was found… they would get a partnership and a share of the profits. There are other people who are partners," namely the people who had rescued him, "and since you're from the colonies, you're eligible to be a partner." He held up his hand as soon as she opened her mouth. "Don't say it's charity, it isn't. I didn't create the things I have patents on, so I don't deserve all the money. If you accept the partnership at Thirteen Colonies Institute, one of your responsibilities would be to assist in research and development. So it would be more work, a lot more since you always had more direct access to weapons and flight technology. On the other hand, you'll certainly be able to afford the rent on the cabin."

She took another drink, a deeper drink. "Thirteen Colonies Institute? Not Twelve Colonies?"

"There are thirteen," or were, but he didn't go there, "and ironically the United States began with thirteen colonies so the name makes people think that we're patriotic. It helps that I have the bulk of the profits that we're not reinvesting are going to charity. There's no reason you shouldn't have a share of that. You could even establish your own charity if you wanted to. I did."

Kara snapped her fingers and smiled. "TCI…. That's why it's familiar." She swirled her drink. "At the hospital, the crazy wing was right next to the physical rehab unit and they had some sort of huge grant from TCI to work with military veterans that were amputees. And little kids."

"Victims of war," Felix said after a moment. He began to stir the sauce, not wanting to betray his own emotions but even after so much time it was still hard. "The health care system here in the States isn't bad, but soldiers aren't always given what they deserve. I like to think that if there had been decent medical facilities, that I would have gotten better than a poorly fitted cup and steel pipe for a prosthetic leg. There's no excuse for a soldier in service here to not receive the best available. And the children… they're mostly kids from places where losing a limb means you're spending your life as a beggar." He still had nightmares about the amputation and about what his life would have been like in the fleet if he hadn't been captured by the Goa'uld. "It's hard enough as an adult…. Earth isn't Caprica, even though the part we're in seems like Caprica sometimes. They call the United States, and Canada, and Europe, the First World and most of those kids are from the Third World. That's like being from Sagiterra."

After a moment she nodded. He was surprised but then she had come a long ways from when she had been rescued. "I get it. If I accept this… do I get some input in where the charity money goes? I have some ideas."

"Of course. All the partners have their own areas of emphasis. Helo and Sharon have partnerships" He waited a moment. "I don't want to pressure you. You can take as long as you like to think about it."

After a moment she tossed back the remains of her drink and smiled. "Well, I suppose I should have a lawyer or something look at the paperwork before I sign it… but if the Delphi noodles are as good as they smell, I might be convinced." She paused. "But if you hand me a damn fork, I swear, Gaeta, I will stomp you."

Felix laughed. "I swear, Kara, I will never offer you Delphi noodles with a fork."

_Finis_


End file.
